Robert De Niro Issues Statement About Being Sent Pipe Bomb, Urges People to Vote

Two more potential explosive devices were discovered this morning — one addressed to Senator Cory Booker and the other to James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence — bringing the total number sent to prominent critics of President Trump this week to 12. Among those discovered yesterday was one at the offices of Tribeca Productions, the production company owned by Robert De Niro. An employee spotted the package — an apparent pipe bomb mailed in a manilla envelope — sitting in the Tribeca Film Center in New York, and alerted authorities, who removed the device safely.

Today, De Niro issued this statement about the incident, reminding people that “there’s something more powerful than bombs” in our country:

I thank God no one’s been hurt, and I thank the brave and resourceful security and law enforcement people for protecting us. There’s something more powerful than bombs, and that’s your vote. People MUST vote!

About 15 years ago, I was an intern at the Tribeca Film Center. One of my jobs, every day, was delivering mail to Robert De Niro and his partner Jane Rosenthal, and to tenants all throughout the building. Sometimes I sorted the incoming mail as well. This was one of the tasks that interns at Tribeca had to do.

There’s almost no way that package would have made its way to De Niro’s desk — but it could have potentially done catastrophic damage to one of those interns or security guards or postal workers or who knows who else. And a few years ago, that could have been. So this news hits particularly close to home.